Carve Out an Ethical Career – Part III
In this ongoing series Dawn Mellowship interviews women who have dedicated their careers to ethical causes. Could this be your next career move?
Lydia Good is a Programme Officer for the Mines Advisory Group (MAG). MAG clear the remnants of conflict from some of the world’s poorest nations, educating and employing local people and helping to provide solutions for those trapped by poverty and economic devastation.
Starting Out
“I have worked for MAG for almost 4 years now. I started in 2003 as their international partnership co-ordinator. I was in HQ before I worked in Angola working on donors and projects and liaisons with governments. Then an opportunity opened up in Angola where I was Programme Officer.
The reason I like working for MAG and why I wanted to work for MAG is that we are often the first on the ground, because we have to take the bombs out and remove the mines. For example, in the case of the Israel-Lebanon conflict, agencies physically can’t get into Lebanon to rebuild the bridges because there are cluster bombs on the roads so it’s a case of what MAG does impacts in so many different ways. It’s not just taking a landmine out of the ground, it’s then the impact that that has, so people then have access to water, to schools and they can walk to the village next door without risking losing their legs. Our work is so vital and then everyone else can come in safely.”
The Role
"A lot of what I do is updating governments who pay for our projects in terms of reporting. I will explain to them about our projects, about the impact of our work, whether it’s clearing a village of landmines, or clearing a bridge, or land so Oxfam can put in a well. I also do things like Human Resources and Logistics. I order mine detectors and a big part of my job is sorting out problems.
If I was lucky my team of technical field managers would have organised a demolition. When you clear lots of landmines you need to get rid of them safely, so if it is safe to remove them from the ground there and then, you take them out and back to the base. Then you organise a demolition where you put them in a big pit with explosives on top and you link it all together and create a big explosion. They would let me press the button to set off the demolition of all the explosives.
In Angola fortunately the war has been over since 2002. No one is laying mines, or shooting bombs and so now we are just clearing up the legacy and remnants of the war. When they are gone, people can rebuild their lives.”
Highs
“I could go out to the places where we have cleared landmines and see firsthand the fact that people have now moved and built houses on the land that we have cleared. Before this people didn’t have anywhere to live that was on safe land and they were having to risk their lives by building houses on land that was potentially mined.
The satisfaction also comes from people coming over to you and saying, “thank you for removing the mine from my front garden.” The impact of MAGs work is immediate and long term so the risk is gone and people can then work and live on the land. The motivation is fantastic."
Lows
“I think one of them was missing my family so much. Any job can be frustrating. In Angola you have to have plan A, plan B and then you have to scrap those and make plan C because none of those will work on the day when the others have fallen through. They only came out of the war 4 years ago and so the infastructure is still getting back in gear and getting things in through customs is very slow and expensive. Thing move very slowly but the rewards and motivation and seeing the impact of our work outweighed that.”
Advice
“A lot of not for profits are really overstretched, in terms of their head offices, so if people have time to go into an office and support in terms of putting stamps on envelopes, or answering phones, that is a massive help because then it takes the pressure off people that work there full time. In terms of getting a job with MAG or an NGO, being a volunteer gives you an inside insight into working in an NGO, so that if you apply for a full time post, they can see on your CV that you have been dedicated enough to give two days a week to that agency.
Go for something that you believe in. I loved what MAG did and it showed at the interview.”
MAG is funded in Angola by public support, the British Government, the American Government, the Dutch Governments and the European Commission.
